1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a network communication technology, and in particular, to a remote diagnosis system including a plurality of image forming apparatus connected to a central control apparatus which is capable of providing to the central control apparatus predetermined trouble indicators indicating a problem which have or may occur in each of the plurality of image forming apparatuses.
2. Discussion of the Background
In recent years, a variety of remote diagnosis systems have been proposed. Such conventional systems generally include at least a plurality of image forming apparatus respectively disposed at a plurality of user stations and a central control apparatus connected to each of the image forming apparatuses. The central control apparatus may be disposed at a sales dealer or a service center, thus forming a network with the plurality of image forming apparatus. The conventional central control apparatus generally receives a plurality of trouble indicators which indicate the image forming apparatus requires repair, for example. In the remote diagnosis system, if the plurality of trouble indicators are simultaneously received by the central control apparatus, the central control apparatus tends to overwork in trying to respond to the trouble indicators. To solve such a problem, a remote diagnosis system, as described in the Japanese Laid Open Patent Application No. 6-20512, transmits to the central controller a trouble indicator only if the discovered problem is assigned a higher value than a problem which has previously occurred. This process is executed in order to avoid overworking the central control apparatus.
However, in such a technology, if a part is broken and a new one is required in the image forming apparatus, the problem indicator is not transmitted to the central control apparatus unless it has a value higher than a problem which previously occurred. Thus, it is possible the problem may prevent a user from using the apparatus in a case when a trouble indicator is not a higher value than that which has previously occurred.